1. Technical Field
The invention relates to electronic document delivery. More particularly, the invention relates to a distributed dynamic document conversion server.
2. Description of the Prior Art
One of the many complexities associated with delivering information between two disparate systems stems from basic incompatibilities between those systems including, for example, differences in capabilities. A printer has a very different set of capabilities than a personal computer, and a commensurate set of data formats which the printer might accept. A personal computer, for example, might be capable of processing a WordPerfect.RTM. document, a portable document (e.g. Adobe.RTM. Acrobat.RTM. or Novell.RTM. Envoy.RTM.), or an HTML document. A printer, by contrast, might only be capable of accepting a PCL.RTM. file or a Postscript.RTM. file. A fax machine, as with a printer, may only accept a Group 3 compressed black and white raster representation of a document. Thus, various devices have various capabilities in terms of the types of data they may accept.
Similarly, different data types offer different levels of flexibility and function. For example, an Envoy.RTM. or PDF file can be scaled to any resolution, can support millions of colors, and can include text and fonts. A Group 3 compressed fax image, on the other hand, is limited in resolution, only supports black and white colors, and includes no text or fonts, thereby limiting the ability of a recipient of a Group 3 compressed image to perform any operations, except for rudimentary operations.
The extended flexibility of a more robust data representation, such as a portable document, enables such documents to be converted to less robust representations. By illustration, a portable document might be converted to a Postscript file or even a Group 3 compressed image. One might therefore suggest that a portable document is a high level data representation and a Group 3 compressed image is a low level data representation.
In most cases, if the recipient system is capable of receiving a high level data representation, such representation is the data representation of choice due to the increased capabilities such representation provides. Thus, such representation offers a preferred common format, especially if such representation includes a mechanism that can convert the high level representation to a lower level representation as necessary.
M. Williams, R. Yun, Method and Apparatus For Enhanced Electronic Mail Distribution, U.S. Pat. No. 5,424,724 (Jun. 13, 1995) disclose a method and apparatus for enhanced electronic mail distribution which permits distribution of electronic mail documents to multiple host systems and/or external networks via a single host agent. A host agent reference table is established at selected host agents within a local network. Each host agent reference table includes an identification of selected destination nodes associated with an identified host agent for those nodes. A referral to the host agent reference table is used to determine the appropriate host agent for an electronic document destined for a selected node. No provision is made within this method and apparatus for dynamic data conversion. Thus, documents are delivered with its level of representation unaltered and without regard for processing capability at a destination node.
T. Schultz, A. Gross, B. Pappas, G. Shifrin, L. Mack, Apparatus and Method of Distributing Documents To Remote Terminals With Different Formats, U.S. Pat. No. 4,754,428 (Jun. 28, 1988) and T. Schultz, A. Gross, B. Pappas, G. Shifrin, L. Mack, Electronic Mail, U.S. Pat. No. 4,713,780 (Dec. 15, 1987) disclose a method and apparatus for delivering a document originated at a local site by a source having a printer output that is normally connected to a printer, to one or more remote locations having printers or display devices that may differ from the printer normally connected to the printer output of the document generating source. Printer command signals which are normally provided at the printer output are converted to character and position data which represent the respective characters and their horizontal and vertical positions on each page of the document. The character and position data are transmitted to a remote location and reconverted to a form for driving a printer or other display device to produce a line-for-line conforming copy of the original.
The '428 and '780 patents disclose the use of upstream data conversion, but do not provide downstream data conversion. That is, the '428 and '780 patents disclose a method and apparatus that allows text to be sent to a printer and converted to a printer specific format. However, such method and apparatus lacks the ability to start with a high-level representation of the data, and only convert to a lower level representation if such conversion is determined to be necessary. Thus, such approach is not satisfactory where printer format is not known or established prior to document origination, or where a heterogeneous network, such as the Internet, is used to deliver data.
L. Harkins, K. Hayward, T. Herceg, J. Levine, D. Parsons, Network Having Selectively Accessible Recipient Prioritized Communication Channel Profiles, U.S. Pat. No. 5,513,126 (Apr. 30, 1996) discloses a method for a sender to automatically distribute information to a receiver on a network using devices and communications channels defined in a receiver profile. The receiver profile establishes the properties and mode for receipt of information for receivers on the network and the profile is published in a network repository for all network users or is accessible for selected groups or individuals on the network. The disclosed network does not provide for data conversion, but rather involves sending predetermined data based on the capabilities of the recipient which are communicated through channels. Thus, each recipient must first establish a format before data are exchanged.
M. Bloomfield, Sender-Based Facsimile Store and Forward Facility, U.S. Pat. No. 5,404,231 (Apr. 4, 1995) discloses a system that provides sender-based store and forward services for delivering facsimile based information. The system is solely concerned with the delivery of facsimile bitmap images, and not with data conversion.
In view of the limitations attendant with the state of the art, it would be advantageous to provide a system in which the ability to descend to a lower level representation is preserved to allow the flexibility to do so at a future point in time, but that also enables a richer set of functions as appropriate.